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I see that in operation every day in software development. The primary cause comes from the trend where non-technical managers have decision-making power over the technical (development) team.
They took QA out from under the development manager, so now a QA manager has authority to dictate to development how to manage the SDLC, even though QA rarely has the knowledge, skills, and abilities that software engineers do.
Then, non-technical CxOs decided that the one(s) in charge of software engineering decisions (e.g. CTO, VP Software Development, etc.) did not need to have the depth of knowledge, skills, and abilities that the senior software engineers do.
The end result is having non-technical people making poor and uninformed technology decisions based primarily on management techniques suited for manufacturing production lines.
Hence, since meetings can be useful tools for non-technical business operations, they wrongly think they are productive for IT and software engineering.
Lots of meetings (including daily standups) create great inefficiencies and lower productivity and quality. The intellectual rigor needed in software engineering and IT in general is easily derailed by too many meetings interrupting the day.
I have seen the decline in code quality in several companies over the years from this non-technical business management approach.
The decision making roles, that directly interface with the business end (sales, marketing, etc) of a company need to be currently proficient senior software engineers with a solid business understanding and the ability to translate “geek speak” into the language of business, so that non-technical business types can understand.
The business side of a company should limit their involvement to defining requirements in a timely manner and leave the technology decisions (and costs within a budget) to those who fully understand the technology across the entire life cycle.
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Interesting analysis and it fits with what is going on inside said corporations. Tasks that should be trivial go on and on and on. The good news is that the engineering "supervisor" is very technically adept and does a good job of shielding the developers from excessive meetings.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I have never worked with a team of developers.But as a young just graduated Pharmacist I worked for a family owned company that went mega corporate. 12 local pharmacies to multiple states with over 300 pharmacies. Before I went to pharmacy school I mowed Eddie Schuman's lawn Eddie had a daughter who married Sheldon (Bud) Fantle. I also mowed Bud's lawn. Bud was the president of the empire. When we went from a Royal Typewriter to computer I was in my element and learned how to break in to the system software. I taught the computer to write my order it had a counter that every time you sold 100 tablets of a medication it increased the counter and would print a report on how many to buy. No one even the IT guy knew about this function. How did I learn most of this I call Honeywell who wrote the software. I was dam lucky I got 2 guys who were very helpful and friendly.
Because my pharmacy was in a highly competitive area 5 pharmacies within a 7 mile area I decided to create my own prices. I took that store from 150 prescriptions a day to 450 prescription a day. This caught local managements eye. I knew not to spill the beans or I would be GONE. But one day I showed the IT guy who I was friends with how I wrote the order. He passed this information on to Bud. Then one day I started working and all the prescription prices were increased by 35% or more depending on the volume of he medication. WHAT the Heck was going on ? ? Check the price file and all my lower prices were replaced we are talking days of work. YEP I called BUD and went off about the prices.
He said I understand you have your own price scale in the computer BUSTED
Then he said calm down. I have one question why has no one else called me about this?
I said they know but are too afraid to complain.
A few hours later Bud called back and said his son who was part of the company was messing with the computer and had made a mistake. During this few hours my local manager called and said "I don't believe it you called Bud" I was offered a better store which was not doing a large enough volume but Mr. Hoover (the Sweeper guy) was a customer nice fellow.
I moved on to Grand Canyon yes I lived inside the park. Installed a computer in the little pharmacy. HOW Called the guys from Honeywell and bought a used desktop system and printer for $500.00 When I got the store at GC we did 30 prescriptions a day took it to 200 a day by treating the people in the community like what Bud Fantle & Mr. Hoover had taught me.
That's my Story and I am sticking to IT
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Cool story! Too bad it's already way back here and fading fast...but that how it goes in the lounge.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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In my experience in over fifty years, I have observed that the type of person who earns a BBA or an MBA and aims to rise into corporate management often becomes a problem rather than becoming an asset. Many have either an ego problem or a hubris problem or both. The Business Administration coursework leans heavily on case studies and simple-case problems. They usually start in sales, marketing, or finance. They have little-to-no practical experience in the complexity of running a real enterprise. Their best skill is selling themselves to human resources and middle management -- employees who are desperate for someone to fix the mess left behind by the last idiot they hired and who just left to screw up another company. They think they know what they are doing, but in reality, they are starting way out of their depth.
A few of these BBA and MBA idiots will survive and even thrive, but most will move on to another company, leaving a significant amount of damage to the company they are leaving.
Why does upper management allow this to happen? Because upper management consists of those that thrived and learned. Often, they have the eternal optomism of a salesman or a marketeer.
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
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They had a really great conductor.
I'll get my coat.
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First thing I thought
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
The shortest horror story: On Error Resume Next
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I hear the performance was electric.
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Nah, it was all just power chords.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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We're going to react violintly.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Good one, Sander
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Wordle 1,116 X/6
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
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Wordle 1,116 5/6*
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Trap if I've ever seen one, was going alphabetically .
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Wordle 1,116 5/6*
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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After your second guess I can only see two possibilities - I'm interested to know what your other guess was
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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For my fourth guess, I thought I'd try my second guess again in case it worked this time. That or I'm an idiot - one of the two, possibly both ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Nope, you defaulted to "software developer" mode.
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
The shortest horror story: On Error Resume Next
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⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Wordle 1,116 5/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Wordle 1,116 5/6*
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Nicely symmetric!
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Wordle 1.116 4/6
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬛
🟨🟩🟨🟩⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I was about to try the 4th right away
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
The shortest horror story: On Error Resume Next
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Wordle 1,116 5/6*
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. -Frederick Nietzsche
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Wordle 1,116 5/6
🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
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